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So at this point I have read both your article and the aforementioned article by Abhay. And i have to say I am unimpressed by Abhay's article.

To some extent there are points that can be make in the underlined sub-text of Marvel and other comic company's that can be and are misogynistic. However I fine that the originating article is really quiet lacking in its view of the subject. And it creates this analysis based off of only one really example and vague references to other displays.

Now I should one point out that I have not read 'Dark Reign' or am I an overwhelming fan of either the marvel or DC universes. I am however an avid reader of both comics and graphic novels. So with this being said I understand that I do not have all of the facts on the subject and therefore my analysis is one-sided.

First i will say that though the writer Abhay sets up an article that seems to have relevant facts and points, reading over the analysis seems to me that the writer did not spent a relevant amount of time looking over the work. The article had the air of someone who used only relevant pieces of text to illustrate their point with only a mild and vague dismissal of the text and sub-text that showed the opposite point of view.

I think that my biggest problem with the article is that the writer unequivocally demands that this misogyny and gynophobia is on purpose. That they were a main goal of the writers. Aside from the complete and utter lack of evidence to defend such a point of view this is an idea the comes out a lot in relation to comics in general. There are articles the world around that demand that all comics have this unyielding hatred of women and I think this is an oversimplification. Ones must first understand that this ideas the both you and Abhay site are ideas about women that are not conscious at this point in the human mind, they are ideas that have been ingrained for years. And on a site such as this one we must revise that it is this kind of ingrained idea that is truly hard to even recognize as a problem or even that it is an idea that you have.

We also must understand that else ideas about women can be seen more often in womens writing then in mens. I have to say that cartoons, comic books and in other story telling formats it is often the story's written by women that offend me the most. They tend to be the most prone to the idea of the damsels in distress story's and tend to be the most condemning of sexual women. So I think that its overstepping even the sub-text to say these ideas are demeaning on purpose. And we must also understand that Mavel has done a lot for women in written publications (though scantily clad) women were put in positions of power both heroic and villainous when it was very uncommon to do such a thing.

Now all of that being said, Mavel has an uncanny ability to write very two dimensional story's and characters so faulting them because they're female characters don't have good motivations is funny because most of the time very few of their characters do have understandable or real motivations.

The original article written by Abhay also uses Wikipedia a source to site references... this is not acceptable in any median Wikipedia is for quick reference only and because of its nature is an unreliable source. Most of the time its better not to name any source at all as anyone quoting wiki is shown to be unfamiliar with the topic at hand.

I think that there is a chance that in Dark Reign the sub-text of misogyny is really overwhelming however I think the writer Abhay has done an inadequate job of proving this point. Those I think it is an interesting topic of discussion that should be discussed and debated. And the ideas brought up in the article have an interesting effect on the overall reaction to women and sex.

Khosla is a funny guy who often writes funny stuff but i09 taking it seriously is ludicrous.

A couple of things:

"So what you see is- woman orders man; man rebels! Man takes over power from women; happy ending. That is the subtext..."

This might be a valid read, if Civil War had had a happy ending, but it didn't. The whole point of CW was that the 'good guys' lost and the 'bad guys' won. Iron Man (the guy who 'takes power') was the villain of Civil War, so this argument is a big fat fail.

Also worth noting is that the sea monster the X-Men fight, the one Khosla is so sure is a vagina dentata, is, in fact, a giant snake. Now, Freud might indeed agree with Khosla that a giant snake might have some sort of sexual symbolism -- but I'm not sure if he'd buy it as a stand in for *female* genitalia.

Yes, there are some sexist data points in the X-Men story -- the bit about maddening it by inducing estrus and Namor's crack about ex-wives come to mind -- but, IMHO not nearly enough to support Khosla's Unified Theory of Line-Wide Castration Anxiety. His 'review' is funny (as it's meant to be), but not even remotely sane (which, I think...or at least hope, was also his intention).

Again, it's the 'brain trust' (and I use that term VERY loosely) at i09 that are the truly clueless ones here.

I'd like to respond to Mary336 first. As someone who hasn't read the comic, I also got a sense that Khola picked parts that demonstrated his argument... as any writer would do if they are making an argument. He wasn't writing a review on the entire comic; he was speaking directly to moments in the comic that he wanted to analyze.

I also do not oversimplify the allegations of hatred and misogyny that seemingly blankets the comic book world. In fact, that's why I include the comments. Since I haven't read the magazine nor do I know anything about the writer who "read" it, the comments give me some glimpse into the fanbase and personal connections with the story and Marvel itself. Towards the end of my post, I briefly compare one commenter's opinion with my response to Jennifer's Body: Both of which featured she-monsters, monsters who seemed to orignate from very specific conditions - Jennifer (alleged virgin/certified "slut") is sacrificed and is ressurected as a demon; Namor's ex-wife is manipulated into becoming a she-monster, one that's kept in a state of hormonal "estrus" (from what I interpreted is a constant state of sexual exciteability). As mentioned, the comment about the displacement of Marvel's female characters struck me as being somewhat of a typical problem in science fiction to create a female character with genuine motivations. And, it motivates me to really read more comics and see if it is true in both science fiction and fantasy genres that such a conflict exists. If you have any examples, please pass along!

As for the Wiki resource, he only uses two - one to explain vagina dentata and the other to reference the character Marinna Smallwood. The former usage is pretty relevant; while there are different variations on the myth its original story hasn't changed, so why do I need to dig any deeper? As for the latter usage, Khosla directly says that his wiki reference should by no means be a substitute to reading the original sources, which he lists. Wiki, in these cases, is a quick reference and, a reader who knows how to read an article, should know that wikis are meant for just that. Like Cliff notes, if you will (Original sources for wiki references are listed below each wiki page so that can help in determining authenticity).

Anywho, I didn't write this post or support Khosla's analysis because I want to dissuade readers from reading the comics. In fact, I hope it draws more people to them! I do think that Khosla's use of the terms "misogyny" and "gynophobia" is unnerving because these words are so loaded with bad connotations. But, I do think he was trying to make a cohesive argument. Sure, the monster is a big snake. Duh, I see that. Khosla knows that too, I'm sure. And that's what it supposed to be. But, Khosla is trying to show us what he think it means. I do agree that he's trying to be funny about the entire article and shouldn't be taken so seriously. But, that doesn't mean his points are any less valid because of it.

Personally, I thought it was a pretty cool attempt at deconstructing a comic book story. And, whether it ruffled feathers or not, the responses the article yielded did introduce the discussion of how females are or should be represented in these roles. And these are comments left by people who knows these comics the best: The readers.

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